© Photo by John Burcham
Annette McGivney is an award-winning writer who has been drawn to remote, wild places her entire life. Through her work as a writer, educator and speaker she seeks to inspire others to connect with the natural environment and protect wilderness. Annette won the National Outdoor Book Award in October 2018 for her book "Pure Land: A True Story of Three Lives, Three Cultures, and the Search for Heaven on Earth ."
Annette is the author of five nonfiction books and writes frequently for The Guardian, Outside, Arizona Highways and Backpacker. She is also a professor emeritus in Journalism at Northern Arizona University where she taught for two decades.
Her book, "Pure Land," was published by Aquarius Press in October 2017. "Building Wood Fires," about humans and fire, was published in November 2017 by W.W. Norton. Annette is also author of "Resurrection: Glen Canyon and a New Vision for the American West" (Braided River/The Mountaineers, 2009) and "Leave No Trace" (The Mountaineers Books, 1997). Her next book, "Plastic Shaman," about an investigation into a deadly self-help retreat and cultural appropriation of Native American spiritual practices will be published by Torrey House Press in 2026.
In May, 2008 Annette won a Maggie Award from the Western Publications Association for "Best News Story" for her Backpacker story "Freefall," about the Grand Canyon's Havasupai tribe. “Arch Rival,” a story Annette wrote about an arduous Grand Canyon hiking trip for the Nov. 2012 issue of Arizona Highways was named "Best Travel Feature" in the International Regional Magazine Association’s 2013 IRMA Awards. In 2014, Annette won another IRMA Award for Best Travel Feature for a Feb. 2013 Arizona Highways article “To Hellsgate and Back.”
In October 2016, Annette received second place for the prestigious “Magazine Writer of the Year” Award from the International Regional Magazine Association for five feature stories she wrote for Arizona Highways in 2015. In addition, Annette accepted the 2016 IRMA Award of Merit in the "Nature and Environment" category for an Arizona Highways story she wrote about Mexican wolves on the White Mountain Apache reservation. In 2018, Annette's book "Pure Land" won the "Excellence in Story telling Award" from Coconino Center for the Arts in addition to "Pure Land "earning the National Outdoor Book Award.